ACS Catalysis
Research Article
supplemented with 50 μg/mL kanamycin and 50 μg/mL
ampicillin. At mid log phase cells were induced with 0.25 mM
and 20 μL was added to 980 μL of 50% v/v H O/acetonitrile.
2
Sample analysis was performed by HPLC as described above.
UbiX
IPTG and supplemented with 1 mM MnCl , grown overnight
PA0254
Activity Dependency on Metal Ions. To
2
UbiX
at 17 °C/180 rpm, and then harvested by centrifugation (4 °C,
test for the metal ion requirements of PA0254 , protein
purified in the presence of NaCl or KCl was reconstituted with
prFMN produced in vitro. Two UbiX reactions were
performed in parallel, with 200 mM NaCl or KCl, 50 mM
Tris, pH 7.5, as the diluent; 0.1 mM FMN, 0.5 mM DMAP, 0.5
mM NADH, 50 μM UbiX, and 2 μM Fre (E. coli NAD(P)H-
flavin reductase) were mixed with each reaction inside a Belle
Technologies Anaerobic chamber. The reactions were
7
000g for 10 min).
Purification of His-Tagged Proteins. Cell pellets were
resuspended in buffer A (200 mM KCl, 1 mM MnCl , 50 mM
2
Tris pH 7.5) supplemented with DNase, RNase, lysozyme
(
(
Sigma), and Complete EDTA-free protease inhibitor cocktail
Roche). Cells were lysed using a French press at 20 000 psi,
and the lysate was clarified by centrifugation at 125 000g for 90
min. The supernatant was applied to a Ni−NTA agarose
column (Qiagen). Initially, imidazole was used to elute the
protein with the column being washed with 3 column volumes
of buffer A supplemented with 10 mM imidazole and protein
eluted in 1 mL fractions with buffer A supplemented with 250
mM imidazole. Once imidazole was observed to be binding to
the cofactor, subsequent purifications utilized histidine to elute
the protein, with the column being washed with 3 column
volumes of buffer A supplemented with 10 mM histidine and
protein eluted in 1 mL fractions with buffer A supplemented
with 100 mM histidine. Samples were subjected to SDS-PAGE
analysis, and fractions found to contain the purified protein
were pooled. Imidazole/histidine was removed using a 10-DG
desalting column (Bio-Rad) equilibrated with buffer A. Protein
was aliquoted and flash frozen until required. Cells grown for
the production of apo PA0254 (i.e., without ubiXpET21b)
were resuspended in 200 mM NaCl, 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5
or 200 mM KCl, 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5. Other aspects of
the purification remained constant with holo preparations using
imidazole as the eluent.
incubated for 3 h prior to separation of prFMNH from the
proteins using a 10 kDa MWCO microcentrifugal concentrator
2
(
Sartorius). To a final concentration of 30 μM PA0254 in
either NaCl or KCl buffer A, filtrate containing prFMN was
added to a final concentration of 10 μM in the respective salt,
with MnCl or MgCl added to a final concentration of 100
2
2
μM. Controls with no MnCl /MgCl were performed as was a
2
2
control with no additional MnCl /MgCl , and prFMN. P2C
2
2
was dissolved in 50 mM NaCl, 50 mM NaPi, pH 6 or 50 mM
KCl, 50 mM KPi, pH 6. PA0254 in the respective salt was
added to a final concentration of 0.75 μM (final added
[prFMN] = 0.25 μM). HPLC assays were performed as
described above with the exception that reactions were allowed
to proceed for 1 h at 25 °C prior to quenching with acetonitrile
+
0.1% TFA in a 1:1 volume ratio with the reaction, followed
by centrifugation and a 1 in 5 dilution with 50% (v/v) H O/
2
acetonitrile + 0.1% TFA. Detection and depletion of P2C was
performed at 270 nm.
1H NMR Monitored Enzyme-Catalyzed Deuterium
Exchange. Ten millimolar substrate, 100 mM NaPi, pH 5.6,
in D O was incubated overnight at 30 °C with and without 5
2
UV−vis Spectroscopy/Protein Quantification and
Decarboxylation Assays. UV−vis absorbance spectra were
recorded with a Cary 50 Bio UV−Vis spectrophotometer
UbiX
μM PA0254 . Data were collected on a Bruker 500 MHz
NMR spectrometer and QCI-F cryoprobe at 298 K with a 4
min accumulation time.
EPR Spectroscopy. Continuous-wave X-band (∼9.4 GHz)
EPR spectra were recorded with a Bruker E500/580 EPR
spectrometer with a Bruker “Super High Q” cavity (ER
(
Varian). The protein concentration was estimated from the
A280 absorption peak with extinction coefficients calculated
from the primary amino acid sequence using the ProtParam
program on the ExPASy proteomics server. PA0254 concen-
4
122SHQE) coupled to an Oxford Instruments ESR900
tration was estimated using ε280 = 78 380 M− cm . Initial
rates of pyrrole-2-carboxylate (P2C) decarboxylation were
determined by monitoring P2C concentration by UV−vis
1
−1
helium flow cryostat for temperature control. Spectra were
collected at 20 K using 10 μW microwave power, 100 kHz field
modulation frequency, and 1 G modulation amplitude.
spectroscopy at 255 nm using an extinction coefficient ε
=
UbiX
UbiX
2
55
Crystallization of PA0254 . Purified PA0254
in
−
1
−1
1
8 000 M cm . Assays were performed with various
200 mM NaCl, 50 mM Tris, pH 7.5, was concentrated in a
concentrations of substrate dissolved in 350 μL of 50 mM
Vivaspin 30 kDa MWCO spin concentrator to a final
concentration of ∼10−20 mg/mL. Initial screening by sitting
drop was performed; mixing 0.3 μL of protein with 0.3 μL of
mother liquor led to crystals in a variety of conditions when
incubated at 21 °C. The best-performing crystals originated
from well D3 of the Morpheus commercial screen (Molecular
Dimensions) consisting of 0.12 M alcohols, 0.1 M imidazole/
KCl, 50 mM NaPi, pH 6 using a 1 mm path length cuvette.
UbiX
PA0254
Decarboxylation Reactions Assayed by
HPLC. Typical assays containing 10 mM pyrrole-2-carboxylate,
0 mM KCl, and 50 mM NaPi, pH 6, were incubated with and
5
without enzyme at 30 °C overnight. The sample was
centrifuged at 16 100g to remove precipitate, and 50 μL was
added to 450 μL of 50% v/v H O/acetonitrile. Sample analysis
2
MES, pH 6.5, 20% v/v glycerol, and 10% w/v PEG 4000.
UbiX
was performed using an Agilent 1260 Infinity Series HPLC
equipped with a UV detector. The stationary phase was a
Kinetex 5 μm C18 100A column, 250 × 4.6 mm. The mobile
phase was acetonitrile/water (50/50) with 0.1% TFA at a flow
rate of 1 mL/min, and unless otherwise stated, detection was
Crystals of PA0254
N318H mutant were attained as above
but were grown in condition H7 of the Morpheus screen
(Molecular Dimensions) consisting of 0.1 M amino acids, 0.1
M NaHEPES/MOPS buffer, pH 7.5, 20% v/v glycerol, and
10% w/v PEG 4000.
performed at a wavelength of 210 nm.
Diffraction Data Collection and Structure Elucida-
tion. Crystals were flash cooled in liquid nitrogen. Data were
collected at Diamond beamlines and subsequently handled
UbiX
PA0254
Carboxylation Reactions Assayed by
HPLC. Typical assays containing 50 mM pyrrole, 100 mM
17
KPi, pH6, and 1 M KHCO (final pH 7.5) were incubated
using the CCP4 suite. All data were reduced and scaled using
3
18
with and without PA0254 enzyme at 30 °C overnight. The
XDS. Interpretable maps were obtained following molecular
sample was centrifuged at 16 100g to remove the precipitate,
replacement with the available apo-PA0254 crystal structure
2
867
ACS Catal. 2021, 11, 2865−2878